The Wind

          This silent picture from 1928 is the tale of a single woman (Letty) who moves west from Virginia to live with her cousin (Beverly) and his wife (Cora). Beverly's great bond with Letty leads Cora to believe that Letty moved in to steal him away. Therefore, Cora kicks Letty out, who owns nothing in the west and needs shelter from the omnipresent wind. She has to quickly marry in order to have a home, so she is forced to choose between a farmer who she does not love and a suitor from the train ride to town. Silent movies scare many modern moviegoers, but this was an easy movie to follow. Occasional dialogue was displayed mainly as checkpoints, making sure that you understand what is happening. Most of the time the dialogue was not even needed, but it is a nice safety net for those who tend to involuntarily space out. With black and white, contrast becomes a bigger issue. In The Wind, the interior backgrounds were usually pretty black, whereas the faces were illuminated in white, more so than your typical black-and-white movie. I would probably categorize this film as a dramatic piece, although there are definitely psychological aspects, as well as the beginnings of horror present in the tremendous fear of the wind's power. The wind itself is a character in the story, being the reason for swift decision-making. I had recorded this on TCM, and before the feature presentation Lillian Gish (Letty) spoke a little bit about the movie. Actually, she basically told the whole story with some spoilers, which was kind of disappointing. However, she told us the original ending that was changed. Once you watch this movie, look up the original ending because I think it made more sense than what the filmmakers ended up going with. Feel free to agree or disagree in the comments section below. Overall, I enjoyed the melting pot of genres (which even included comedy) and recommend this movie to all the movie-lovers out there.